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How do you keep your work fresh?

- I think the biggest thing…that will keep your work fresh…is to understand that design is not something you make up.…It's not something you impose on a story.…Your best design is going to come from the story itself,…where you're listening to the product,…you're listening to the message, your listening to the idea,…you're listening to whatever it is you're trying to portray.…Then you begin thinking,…it's like what does this thing look like?…How does this thing live on screen or on paper…and just start trying to create…what you feel is the life of the thing,…and you'll probably find yourself defaulting…to some old habits…and you'll probably find that your first efforts…aren't satisfying at all.…

But just keep pushing…and look for the story that needs to be told.…It's very easy to impose something…and some things work that way.…You can put a look on something that you've used before…and the thing works with that look on it.…Other times, you can try that, and it'll completely fail.…It's like, alright, I shouldn't be putting…

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Author

Released

8/29/2016

Get insights, advice, and inspiration from a master designer. John McWade offers advice on general but key topics for new designers just starting out: choosing the right typeface, finding inspiration, setting up a color palette, keeping your work fresh, knowing when a design is not working, and more. We also get a peek into how he got his start, which is an interesting look at the birth of desktop publishing.